Kind of: there are a few "softmod" methods and the hotswap of the hard drive is one of them. Obviously you will need to get a better guide but the general idea is you take the case from the xbox and get ready to unplug the drive. Boot the xbox and at a given point pull it out and stick it into your PC.
On your PC you boot to a custom version of linux and away you go.

There are a fair few threads around here discussing more in depth but feel free to come back with more specific questions.

I did the hot-swap to a friends the other day to get the savefiles on the HD. Kinda frustrating at first but it works, you don't need action replay. Just need the 007, mechassault or some other game to run unsigned code and load up your new dashboard.

I think hot-swap would be easier and there a lot of you-tube videos for u to watch, and you don't got to open much up of the unit, just make sure you use Torq 10 and Torq 20 screw driver or you will strip the screws. Open of the xbox disconnect the power to the dvd drive and turn it back on and see if u get a error code 12 displayed on the tv/monitor then load up device manager & xplorer360 then plug in the xbox hd to primary ide 1, then scan for new hard changes and then open the drive in xplorer360 (if it fails find a different version of xplorer360) I had to use a spare desktop computer and switch the main HD to ide 2 and change a few bios settings to let it boot back up, if you disconnect the primary ide from your computers HD while its running you will get a blue screen.

save files that need to put on the hd are found here (if you have the game) just goto a pawn shop or gamestop, im sure you can pick it up cheap, I got mechassault for 7 bucks used.

get mechassault,007 or splintercell use a friends modded box ftp the save to the box them to a memory card one way

or hotswap dangerous or use action replay either 3 is fine make sure the hacked save is on the memory card

run one of the games run the save i use sid4 softmod installer deluxe4

you press a to the first 3 options then select install softmod i use single boot for your region then

it will say booting to approm ppf patcher auttmatically patches it then it says eject disc when you do this the xbox
will reset take out your disc a screen will popup and say one last step is needed press a once more aand it does
everything for you and xbox will reset and you will have your hacked dash for backups and bigger hdd's yes
you can put a 500 gb in a nonchipped xbox i do it all the time people always say you cant put a bigger hdd in
unless you have a chip but yes you can hope this let you know what your in for get a big enough memory card
and find one of the 3 games and go for Happy Gaming...............

also make sure you have torq 10 and torq 20 screwdriver, don't strip your shit!
a blow dryer to the back the sticker will heat the glue up and allow you to pull the sticker that blocks screws off without damaging the sticker.

I would happily send people my kit bit it is PAL and shipping to the US is nasty, if you are UK bound or near me at the time then let us speak (I also have a spare action replay).

To tie your questions together
TSOP is like a modchip but it is essentially a softmod otherwise (basically best of both worlds: nearly free and with all the benefits of a chip)

The main benefit of a chip (and so TSOP) is that you can stick any drive you like in there and it does not have to lock, locking is a somewhat obscure part of the IDE spec that some drive makers playing a bit fast and loose with specs do not implement. The hotswap guides hint at it but when the xbox is first booted the locked drive is checked, this is way before a typical softmod kicks in but as it is BIOS related and chips and TSOP flashing "replace" the BIOS.....

edit: keys tends to refer the hdd locking key which you normally make when you are softmodding your xbox or you can dump with tools in the AID (autoinstaller deluxe) toolkit.
A note on EEPROM: the suggested method for softmodding usually involved protecting your EEPROM by using a fake one, you can check your dump is good by using liveinfo and the serial on the bottom of your xbox:http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EE...kZENIaMcviF.php